Starting off

Complete the table below with the words from the box. Then answer the questions with a partner.

	temperature	wind	rain	snow & ice	other
nouns	a __________ a drought a cold snap	a breeze a wind a __________ a hurricane	drizzle rain a __________ a flood	frost __________ snow a blizzard	clouds mist fog a storm
adjectives	boiling hot warm __________ cool cold __________	breezy windy	__________ __________ rainy	frosty snowy	cloudy __________ misty foggy stormy
verbs	rise fall	__________ gust	drizzle rain __________	snow	clear up

1. What kind of weather is typical for where you live in each season?

2. What kind of weather do you like best?

3. What kinds of extreme weather have you experienced? When and where was it? What happened?

First reading

Read the text on climate change. What is the author's view on climate change?

1. It is not real.

2. It is real but is not caused by man.

3. It is real and partly caused by man.

4. It is real and is wholly caused by man.

Second reading

Read the text again and match the paragraph headings to the correct paragraphs.

WHAT WILL CLIMATE CHANGE MEAN FOR THE WORLD?

WHAT CAN BE DONE?

WHAT IS CLIMATE CHANGE?

HOW FAR ARE WE RESPONSIBLE FOR CLIMATE CHANGE?

WHAT CAN WE AS INDIVIDUALS DO?

Vocabulary 1

Twelve words or phrases in the text are highlighted. Match them to the definitions below.

1. extremely destructive and disastrous		2. a lack, not having enough to meet demand
3. very important or the most important, crucial		4. loud and very determined to be heard
5. active, being a part of the situation		6. in all parts, taken as a whole
7. very great in amount, size or strength		8. help cause or make something happen
9. deal successfully with something difficult		10. during a period of time
11. certainly, without doubt		12. giving something up or stopping doing something because something else is more important to you

Vocabulary 2

Complete the sentences using one of the words from Vocabulary 1. You may need to change the form of the word.

1. You work every Saturday at the Red Cross? That's quite a ____________________, I'm impressed.

2. Look, the ____________________ point is the cost. The rest doesn't matter.

3. The film started three hours ago! ____________________ it's finished by now!

4. We have several projects ____________________ at the moment, but it's impossible to tell which one will be the most successful.

5. It's quite possible that there will be serious oil ____________________ in the next few decades.

6. We were students together for five years. I got to know her well ____________________ that time.

7. She ____________________ losing her job very well.

8. We have all ____________________ the problem, so we must all help to put it right.

9. There is ____________________ evidence that too much fishing is damaging the ecology of the oceans.

10. The dinosaurs died out because of a ____________________ meteorite impact.

11. There are always a few ____________________ critics. However, most people are satisfied.

12. The situation has improved ____________________, though there are still some minor problems.

Third reading

Read the text again and answer the questions.

1. In what ways does climate change vary?

2. Is the idea that man's activities are contributing to climate change controversial for climatologists?

3. How uniform will temperature rises around the world be?

4. Why might climate change be so damaging to human civilisation?

5. In your own words, what is the main point of disagreement between developed and developing countries?

6. Why do you think `many do not want to face' the thought of changing their lifestyles?

Speaking

Discuss the questions below in small groups. Then tell the rest of the class your ideas.

1. What could you change in your lifestyle to reduce your carbon footprint? How easy or difficult would it be?

2. Does your government do enough to encourage people to live in ecologically-friendly ways? What else could or should it do?

3. Which of the following could or couldn't you live without? Think about how your life would be better or worse if each one did not exist.

• the internet

• computer games

• the mobile phone

• air conditioning

• the car

• air travel

A Monthly Newsletter for Teachers of English

December 2009

© Pearson Longman 2009 PHOTOCOPIABLE

3. ___________________________________

`Climate change' is a newish term. People used to speak of `global warming' but this was a poor name for a phenomenon which is far more complex and varied than simple `warming'. It is true that climate change will result, over the next few decades, in an overall temperature rise; however, the pattern will be complex and it is quite likely that certain parts of the globe will see average temperatures fall.

Whatever the local effects of global climate change, the speed and extent of change could be extreme in most places and cataclysmic to human civilisation not able to cope with such sudden and deep change. Rising sea levels, freshwater shortages, mass extinctions and extreme weather phenomena are all likely.

4. ___________________________________

Attempts are being made to cut emissions of the pollutants which are believed to contribute to climate change. There are many areas of disagreement, however, particularly between developed and developing countries: as most of the pollution to date has come from developed countries, developing countries argue that that is where the main cuts in emissions should come;

1. ___________________________________

Climate change is a noticeable change in weather patterns over anything from decades to millions of years. It can happen gradually or rapidly, locally or globally.

Climate change is a natural phenomenon which is constantly happening. However, many climatologists feel that there is a new element in play: in addition to natural climate change, there is a strong consensus that man's actions are having an increasingly dramatic effect.

2. ___________________________________

There are some vociferous opponents of the idea of anthropogenic climate change (climate change caused by human action). The overwhelming majority of scientists, however, has accepted for many years that our actions play a key role in climate change:

"The overwhelming majority of scientific experts...believe that human-induced climate change is already occurring and that future change is inevitable."
Dr. Robert Watson, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2001.

developed countries argue that all countries must make sacrifices. A deeper argument, which many do not wish to face, is whether we can reverse climate change without radical change to our car-driving, air conditioned way of life.

5. ___________________________________

The short answer is quite a lot. We can reduce our `carbon footprint' - the our contribution to climate change - by living in ecologically friendly ways. This does not mean one big change but rather countless small steps which, if we think about it, we should surely do not only because of climate change but simply because we only have one world to give to our children and we should surely take care of it as best as we can.

overcast heat wave downpour freezing gale

damp pour mild sleet blow wet

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